Which One?

[Crow929]

Hello.
I realize I am a complete newbie, and I am hoping to avoid the avalanche of replies that have nothing constructive to say. I know you guys get trolled a lot, but I promise this isn’t another one. Basically what I’m saying is I fully admit to not having RTFM.
All I’d like to know, before I even get started, is which sim I should dive into according to my equipment. Should I try and run 4.33, 4.32, or stick with AF? I have read the system specs for 4.33, but I don’t know where to find 4.32’s specs.

My rig:
amd fx-6350 @ 3.9GHz
8G ram
win7 64-bit
amd r7 260x 2G
asus pb278

My externals:
thrustmaster warthog hotas
Saitek combat rudder pedals
thrustmaster mfd set
homemade IR head tracker (This I’ve tried, and works pretty good. Quite impressed with myself)
I even have a usb plug in icp

I’d like to be able to set up a second monitor for the mfd screens and a few gauges.

I know I don’t have a very powerful rig, so my question is will I be able to run 4.33 at mild settings with the desired set-up I want? Would running 4.32 be better? I haven’t downloaded anything yet, I haven’t fully looked into what the “dance” will entail.

Thank you in advance,

Crow

[DUSTOFF17]

G’day Crow, welcome to the forums!

Your rig looks perfectly adequate to run 4.33. TBH I doubt the system spec requirements have changed since 4.32 to 4.33 - one of the blissful things about F4 BMS is that because it’s an older engine it isn’t particularly demanding on hardware and runs smoothly and quickly on even the most modest rig.

[Agave_Blue]

https://www.benchmarksims.org/forum/content.php?132

[Mower]

Be a man and jump into the deep end with 4.33…provided you make an effort, we are here to help, brother.

[Cik]

you can handle 4.33 easy

which is good because it’s the best, man

[Stevie]

+1 - you got enough of the right hardware!

[Arty]

Monitor resolution ?
If u are on a hd monitor putting another one for instruments it will work but your VGA might be on the edge mostly cause of the 2gb VRAM.
If u will be on 4k monitor I wouldn’t go for instruments monitor . I might try but don’t expect to be ok.

[Crow929]

@Arty:

Monitor resolution ?
If u are on a hd monitor putting another one for instruments it will work but your VGA might be on the edge mostly cause of the 2gb VRAM.
If u will be on 4k monitor I wouldn’t go for instruments monitor . I might try but don’t expect to be ok.

Thanks for that input, Arty. My monitor has a native 1440 x 2560 resolution. Not 4k, but a step up from 1080 still.
Is the graphics card the bottle neck in this situation? Would that single upgrade be noticeable running this sim with the set-up I described?
Thank you all for your help and encouragement.

[Tensta]

Your CPU is kinda old but still doable. If you are into AMD, I’d take a look at the RX480 GPU. Probably one of the best bang for your buck GPU’s out there currently. 1070 is close but a bit more expensive. But even with that setup you wont run into any issues.

[rmax]

I used to fly AF for a time. The thing with BMS is it adds another level of realism, less buggy and has great graphics. There was another thread where someone argued that people still flew AF as the learning curve was less…but to be honest for me I want it to be as real as possible. I did not find the learning curve HUGE from AF, but it is there. But once you are in, you are hooked because you get an even better appreciation for what being a combat pilot MIGHT be like.

Furthermore, there are people here who are helpful even if it is RTFM, they do tend to give a page number!

[SnowSky]

I was also playing F4AF first. At times of BMS 4.32 my position was, making the first steps with F4AF won’t hurt because the training missions were explained well, with a bit less bells and whistles.
But actually with 4.33 I’d say you better don’t start with F4AF because there are too many details working different and you might start mix them up.

Another thing to mention, when I started to play F4AF and BMS 4.32 I only had a Logitech with a price of ±30€. There weren’t many buttons to configure so no hassle.
But configuring my Thrustmaster Warthog twice would be :|.
It took me around a week to set it up for BMS 4.32, and several days more of flight/adjusting until I was happy with it.

[Cik]

it’s better to learn BMS alone, no reason to play something else that will just cause confusion and misremembered procedures

[hoover]

4.33 without question. I wouldn’t bother with oder BMS versions. The new weather system alone is worth a GPU upgrade (which you won’t need BTW). Your system should be able to handle BMS fine. Maybe a few fps drops over the FLOT during a busy campaign….

All the best, Uwe

[Crow929]

Thanks for all the input everyone. It sounds like I have enough horse power to at least try BMS 4.33, if the performance isn’t where it needs to be with the setup I have then maybe I’ll look into a GPU upgrade. I’ve got some manuals on order, so I’ve got some 700+ pages to start with. I ordered the BMS manual as well as the dash 1 and the dash 34. Did I miss a critical manual? I was trying to keep this initial purchase within reason.